Mixed Up
by FrozenOrange
Summary: Marinette is dealing with her uncle's death and her cousin's intruding presence in her life. She's slowly getting her life back together, but things just aren't the same. Adrien stumbles upon his beloved Lady's identity, and is determined to keep his promise and fall in love with the girl under the mask. –There's just one problem...he's got the wrong girl.
1. Before the Storm

**Frosty here with another fic! So I know I should be working on TSW and whatnot but I've been sitting on this fic since literally the day I joined the ML fandom.**

 **Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

"Duck!"

Chat Noir rolled forward, and then vaulted himself onto a lamplight using his baton. A strand of thick ivy whipped through the spot he had been moments before. The ivy swerved suddenly and began wrapping itself around his lamplight, the metal turning into hedge and wood as the plant wormed its way up.

He cursed and jumped to the terrace of a flower shop (oh, the irony). Ladybug swung her yoyo around the now useless lamplight and landed next to him.

"So," He began, but he was cut short as a green blast hurtled towards them. They both leaped up in opposite directions, just in time to avoid becoming giant plant-like versions of Paris' superheroes.

"What's the plan, or should I say, plant? I think we might be running out of thyme." Chat yelled, dropping low and bouncing off a café's umbrella.

"Follow me!" Ladybug ignored his puns and wrapped her yoyo once more around the lamplight. "Head to the tower."

Chat grunted. "Great, another trip to destroy Paris' iconic landmark." His enhanced hearing picked up a whoosh from behind him, and he hastily followed his Lady's path. The green light splashed against a café, and it suddenly became greenery, with giant man-eating flowers snapping at him and thorny arms of ivy thrashing in the air.

The akuma hadn't said a single word besides introducing herself as Gaia, and floated serenely behind them. Her face was the epitome of tranquility and if Chat hadn't been there to see it, he wouldn't have believed that she was the being responsible for turning half of Paris into some sort of a magical jungle.

Buildings had become walls of ivy and flowers; cars had turned into rocks and trees. Even the people had changed into hedge or wooden sculptures.

He reached the tower a second after Ladybug, and she smirked at him. "Taunt her until she turns the tower into a hedge."

Chat gave her an incredulous look, "One, she doesn't seem to need any taunting. She pretty much turns things into plants without any prompting. Two, are you sure you wanna purposefully turn the Eiffel Tower into the Eiffel Flower?"

She rolled her eyes. "Hedges aren't the same thing as flowers. And besides, have I ever failed you?"

He grinned. She never had and she never would.

"After you."

Ladybug flicked his bell. "Then let's play." She began swinging up the tower.

With a dreamy sigh, he followed her.

They scaled the tower with ease; almost out of habit based on the sheer number of times an akuma had led them there or vise versa.

Gaia drifted after them, hands outstretched. Her eyes were closed, and they had been for the past hour since her creation. Her skin was a mottled grey green, and vines and flowers flowed out of her scalp like hair. A green toga of moss and flowers trailed behind her.

As she neared the iron structure, green started creeping along the ground towards the tower. The two superheroes raced up.

The green akuma, still smiling her serene little smile, came to a stop underneath the center of the Eiffel Tower. She silently raised both her arms up and her plants moved with her. They swarmed up like living creatures chasing after food, which happened to be Chat and Ladybug in this situation.

Metal beams groaned as it twisted into thick branches of wood and vine. Carnivorous plants snapped through the gaps in the greenery.

The two reached the top, and without a word, Chat grabbed his Lady and pushed them up with his baton. Precariously balanced, Chat sat cross-legged as Ladybug dangled from his knee. She tossed her yoyo up.

"Lucky Charm!"

A flamethrower landed in her arms.

"On three, I need you to vault off, ok kitty?"

"Bring on the heat!"

She groaned. "I'll get you for that. Un…Deux…Trois!"

Chat extended the baton even more as Ladybug swung back, legs hooked under his knee, and hung upside a grunt, she blasted the flamethrower at the tower, now completely comprised of plant material.

Flames engulfed the top of the plant tower and began speeding down the mostly wooden structure. With a final push, Chat retracted his baton and let Ladybug flip out from under him. He grabbed her hand as she hooked her yoyo around falling plant bits, somehow finding enough momentum to swing them safely to the ground as the tower began to collapse from the flames eating at it.

Gaia, who had still been standing under the tower, let out a silent scream as flaming pieces of vegetation rained down towards her. Ladybug chucked her yoyo under the tower and grabbed the akuma, yanking her back just in time to avoid a massive flaming branch that crashed into the ground.

Dazed and still wrapped up in Ladybug's yoyo, the akuma simply knelt to her knees. Ladybug quickly snatched the button that had been pinned onto the shoulder of Gaia's toga.

Chat spotted a picture of what looked like a penguin, and the words, "Save Our Mother Earth".

His partner snapped the button with a flick of her fingers. With a quick twist, the yoyo released Gaia and popped back into Ladybug's hand. A simple throw later, and a white butterfly flew peacefully into the sky.

Ladybug grabbed the fallen flamethrower and chucked it into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

The customary ladybugs fixed the Eiffel Tower and turned the forest back into a city. Chat turned to his Lady with a grin. "Bugaboo, that move you did with the flamethrower was unbe _leaf_ able! Pound it!" He held out his fist and she tapped it against his, laughing.

"Merci Chaton." Her earrings beeped. "Well, looks like I gotta blast. See you at our meet up tonight?"

"Of course," He smiled as she swung away.

Chat dropped into an alleyway and detransformed behind a large stack of crates. Adrien Agreste walked out, hands stuck in his designer jeans as he whistled casually.

Plagg, hidden in an inner pocket of his jacket, pinched him. "How many times do I have to tell you that whistling is not inconspicuous at all?"

Adrien whacked him (which just looked like he was hitting himself in the chest). "Neither is a talking pocket."

He could basically feel his kwami roll his eyes, but thankfully the little god didn't speak up again. His phone chimed.

25 text messages from Nino and a phone call. He frowned when he saw the time. "Crap, I promised I would meet Nino to study for that history assessment. I'm forty minutes late."

He stowed his phone in his bag and ran around the corner, making his way to the library.

 _It's weird that he called though. Normally he understands._

Nino was waiting for him on the one of the benches in front of the library, scrolling on his phone with his headphones plugged in. Adrien approached and sat down next to him.

His friend jumped slightly before grinning. "Dude! You're finally here."

Adrien shrugged nervously. "Sorry about that, I should've called or something."

"Nah man, I should've known. I got here before the akuma showed, so I had no idea that you were busy. Normally I'm pretty good about that stuff, so no hard feelings. Heroes gotta hero and all that."

The two stood up and made their way into the library. Nino was the only person that Adrien had told, albeit by accident.

"So, what was it this time?"

"A girl was upset when the environmentalist rally she was gonna hold at her school got canceled because no one wanted to go. Transformed into an earth goddess and turned half of Paris into a garden. Actually, you're super lucky. This arrondisement was basically the only one left unscathed."

"Huh, who woulda thought."

Nino gave him a sideways look, and Adrien internally groaned. It was the same look his best friend gave after every single time he encountered Ladybug. "No, I still haven't said anything."

"Dude! It's been three years," Nino said, exasperated. "Do ever plan on telling her? Or are you just gonna wait until ten years later when she's married with kids."

Adrien cringed at the thought. "I just don't want to force her or anything. She can't help it if she doesn't like me back."

"It's kinda hard to like a guy who's wearing a mask."

"Yeah, well from the looks of it, it doesn't look like we're going to be sharing our identities anytime soon. She's being responsible and all that."

Nino rolled his eyes. "Hey, I walked in on your flying magical black cat thing and found out that you moonlight as one of Paris's superheroes. Old Hawky hasn't come after me yet. What's the harm of sharing your names? There's millions of people in Paris."

Shaking his head, Adrien took out his history textbook at the table they stopped at. "We've been over this thousands of times Nino. It's just not gonna happen. Come on, we came here to study."

With a small sigh, Nino sat down and pulled out his own notes.

* * *

The sun was setting by the time Chat arrived at their usual meeting place. Red and gold streamed over the tops of the buildings as he joined his partner on the rooftop of an old museum. Ladybug watched the city from her perch, dangling her legs off the edge of the building. The highlights of the setting sun tinted her hair and skin. He settled himself next to her and crossed his legs.

"Good evening, My Lady."

She barely turned to look at him, but a small smile appeared on her rosy lips. "Evening Chaton."

Normally at this time, the two would patrol the city together, but they had long since agreed that on the days akumas attacked, they would simply watch the city from their high perch.

He sighed with contentment at the perfect (and romantic) scene in front of them, but he could tell from the narrowness of his Lady's eyes that her mind was filled with duty and responsibility.

A sad gleam made its way into Chat's eyes.

He had once promised himself that he would always love the girl under the mask. But Ladybug had never let him in. He would flirt, and she would push back, firmly establishing their relationship as nothing more than professional.

Could he say that he was truly in love with a girl who didn't even let him get to know her?

He wanted to say yes. He wanted it to be real.

"What's on your mind kitty?" Ladybug turned her attention to him, twisting her body until she faced him completely.

 _You_ , he wanted to say.

"The light of the sun truly makes you radiant Bugaboo." He grinned cheekily, but a part of him waited in anticipation for her to push back.

She didn't disappoint and raised an eyebrow as she pushed a finger at his nose. "Silly Kitty. That sounds like a cheesy line on a makeup or perfume advertisement."

He winked. "You're pretty enough to be on said advertisement."

"Flirt."

"Ah, but only for you, My Lady."

She rolled her eyes, and with a pang, Chat realized that she really didn't believe that he only flirted with her.

A thoughtful look suddenly overcame her features.

"You know, if I wasn't wearing this mask right now, I'd probably have an aneurysm if a pretty boy tried to flirt with me."

"You think I'm pretty?" He waggled his eyebrows and leaned closer.

She pushed him with her shoulder. "Like a Barbie doll."

"Meowch." He placed a hand to his chest in mock offense. "But in all honesty, I don't believe that for a second. Your definitely all confidence and the pretty boys probably all come flocking underneath that mask."

She cocked her head. "Kitty, you don't know enough about me to say that."

That stung. But it was the truth. He really didn't know enough about her to say anything.

"Then let me get to know you."

"No," Ladybug replied, shaking her head firmly, "It'd be irresponsible of us to share any sensitive information about that until Hawkmoth is taken care of."

"Then I eagerly await the day we can kick some butterfly ass. You promise though?" The last part came out weaker than he wanted.

"You're one of my best friends Chat. Of course I would love to get to know more about you after its safe. But only after its safe." With that, she turned back to the city. The sun had completely set at this point, and lights danced around Paris.

As she started idly kicking her legs again, eyes trained on the city, Chat felt his heart sing out to her, and it physically hurt to be so close, yet so far.

 _It's okay though_ , he thought as he listened to the sounds of the night. It was okay to not be in love with all her as of now. He knew that he was in love with the girl under the mask either way. Hopefully she would let him love all of her one day.

* * *

Adrien was checking his answers over. Number twenty-eight looked debatable. He read through his work, and then nearly dropped his pencil when the phone's ring sliced through the silence.

Ms. DeFonte glared at the device, as if offended that it was daring to interrupt her test, but sighed and picked it up. "It's Marina. Could you make this quick, my students are in the middle of an exam."

Focusing on the test once more, Adrien realized that he had made a mistake on the second-degree derivative, and it had messed up the rest of his work. He erased it.

A sharp gasp from his math teacher drew his attention. It was quiet enough that most of the class wouldn't have heard it. But as Adrien sat at the desk closest to his math teacher, the intake of breath was noticeable.

Marina DeFonte was a no-nonsense sort of woman, and Adrien had never seen her exhibit much emotion. He was surprised when her eyes widened and her eyebrows pinched in. Her voice shook when she responded. "Of course, she'll be right there. I apologize for my earlier snappiness."

Adrien's own eyes widened. As she stood up, he ducked his head, pretending to work on the last problem. He heard her stop at the desk right behind him.

"Marinette," she began in a surprisingly soft tone, "It'd be best if you gathered your things and headed to the headmaster's office."

"Now? What about the test?"

Adrien wasn't terribly close to Marinette, but he still considered her one of his friends. They often worked together in calculus, and she was nice enough to him, if a little shy at times. She was a little intimidating though, not only because she was class president, but also because she seemed to friends with _everyone_. Like literally everyone claimed to be friends with her. For a previously homeschooled boy with very little friends, it was a little scary.

He had always admired her ability to care for others, and hoped that nothing bad had happened.

"The test can wait. I'm sure the headmaster will be able to explain. Your parents are down there too."

"Oh." Marinette sounded confused and slightly worried. Ms. DeFonte did nothing to try and reassure her.

A slight shuffling could be heard as Marinette gathered her things. The students pretended to be focused on the test as Ms. DeFonte headed back towards the front of the room.

Marinette made her way towards the desk and placed her test paper in front of their teacher.

The woman's eyes softened, and she told Marinette, "I probably shouldn't be saying anything, but don't worry about making up the test. I'm sure you'll want to take a few days off."

Marinette's blue eyes were furrowed with concern now. She gave their teacher a sharp nod of thanks and rushed out of the room.

Adrien felt a beat of curiosity and worry settle in his chest, but shook it off and finished correcting number twenty-eight.

* * *

That night, Chat had been preparing for patrol when Ladybug sent him a message on his staff.

 _Hey kitty. I've got family emergency. Might be away this week. Could you take care of patrols yourself, I don't think I'll be able to slip away very easily these days. If an akuma shows, I'll do my best to be there. Thanks._

 _LB_

With a concerned crease in his eyebrows, he set off on patrol alone, hoping nothing bad had befallen his Lady.

* * *

Adrien slid into a spot next to Nino as they waited for their first class to start.

His best friend was currently throwing crumpled papers onto his desk as he dug through his bag for the homework. Adrien ran an exasperated hand through his hair.

"Dude, you really need to get a notebook, or a folder, or even a Goddamn paper clip."

Nino raised an eyebrow at Adrien's own neatly stacked, color coordinated books, but didn't stop his search. "I'm perfectly organized thank you very much. Besides," Nino pulled out an old wrinkled t-shirt, "I have–" an old candy wrapper joined the pile on his desk, "–everything–", Adrien winced at the many broken pencils making an appearance, "–I need." Nino finally whipped out one more crumpled paper, "Found it!"

"What you need is some serious help." Adrien couldn't help the slight discomfort he felt at the mess of papers (and other stuff) on Nino's desk. He had always been a rather organized and neat guy. Growing up with Nathalie as a caregiver left little room for sloppiness.

Nino smiled smugly before shoving all his junk back into his bag. "At least I did my homework today."

A click of high heels at the door informed the two that Chloe Bourgeois had just arrived. Her eyes lit up when the landed on him, and she pranced over, designer bag swinging by her side.

"Hey darling." Adrien rolled his eyes, but Chloe ignored him as she hopped onto the edge of his desk and crossed her legs. After knowing Chloe for years, he saw the gleam in her eyes. The gleam that told him that Chloe was here because she wanted something.

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

She sighed exasperatedly, as if she had expected more from him. "About Marinette. You're in the nerdy math class with her aren't you? When she got the call?"

"Okay, first, not nerds. Secondly, I have no idea what you're talk about," Adrien said, frowning when he saw that her bag was currently wrinkling a corner of his assignment.

"Bro, you haven't heard? I thought you knew already, being in her class and all that." Nino piped in, earning a flippant look from Chloe. The two had an odd truce that came from being Adrien's closest friends. They didn't bother each other, but they also weren't the biggest fans of each other.

"Adri, honey, if you're no good at spilling the tea, then you're absolutely no fun to keep around," Chloe said.

Adrien shot a sharp look at Nino. "Can someone just explain to me what happened?"

Nino opened his mouth, but Chloe beat him to it

Pretending to examine her already pristine nails, the blond began, "Poor darling. Sabrina said that Rose said that Alya told Juleka that Marinette's uncle has had cancer for ages now, but that's it been getting worse. Sabrina said that Rose thought that it meant that yesterday, you know… " Chloe raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips, but she didn't finish the thought. Instead she crudely cocked her head to the side as she gestured across her neck.

It took Adrien a minute to follow. Then he immediately sobered up. "Oh, wow, I'm sorry, that's terrible. I mean, I wasn't very close to Marinette, but that's actually horrible."

"Don't apologize, especially not to me. Besides, we don't even know if it's true."

"Don't be rude Bourgeois. For all you know, she just lost her family member," Nino chastised.

Chloe frowned. "What? I lost my mother five years ago. Just because I don't show it doesn't mean I can't be empathetic. Trust me, I know what's she's going through."

The bell rang, and right on cue, Alya Cesaire walked in, looking like she hadn't slept a wink. Dark circles were clear under her eyes, and she hadn't bothered with makeup or with brushing her hair out. Without a word, she made her way to the desk she shared with Marinette. The one that was currently empty.

Nino shot the mayor's daughter a dark look as the despondent girl passed them. "Look, I know you carry the title Queen Bitch with pride, but Marinette probably lost her uncle, so be a little nicer today."

Alya made it to the desk behind them before collapsing into an exhausted pile, oblivious to the curious and concerned glances from her classmates.

Shrugging, Chloe slid off their desk and straightened out her skirt. "She won't be in school for awhile. Don't worry about Marinette and me; even I can't hate the school Princess. Everyone loves her." She emphasized the last bit with a roll of her eyes, joining Sabrina at their desk across the aisle.

* * *

Marinette didn't return to school for another week.

As a fairly present member of the school community (second only to Chloe Bourgeois), her disappearance was the talk of the student body for days.

Everyone in their class had learned that her uncle had indeed passed away, and that the Dupain-Cheng family was busy getting their family's affairs in order.

According to Nino, who had probably talked to Juleka, Marinette had been really close with the man, who had worked in the fashion industry as a marketing director. Rose had whispered to Adrien that he had been the one to inspire her fashion dreams.

He thought of the infamous pink sketchbook, the one everyone knew contained Marinette's work.

The week seemed quiet, even though Marinette wasn't a particularly loud person. But her presence had been constant cheery warmth; now everyone felt the heavy cloud that loomed at the mention of her name, unsure with how to proceed respectfully.

When she did return, she brought someone with her.

At first glance, it wasn't hard to see how the two were related. They both had dark blue-black hair, petite forms, and pale skin. Similar facial structures and head shapes made it hard to see the difference from the back.

But the similarities ended there. Bridgette Cheng had almond-shaped brown eyes that were set wider apart and was shorter than her cousin. She lacked the constellations of light freckles that Marinette had, and her hair reached her lower back. There was a stiff air about her, but Adrien was sure that came from grief.

The first couple days were quiet. Marinette seemed tired, and her eyes were slightly red and puffy. Other than that, she didn't say much. She participated in class, and she smiled at those she passed in the halls. But the enthusiasm and perkiness of their class president was missing.

People were constantly crowding her with apologies and condolences, offering their help and gifts. She accepted it all with the elegance of someone much older than her years. Honestly, he was kind of impressed with the mature way she was handling it all.

Adrien didn't think he was terribly close to Marinette, but he could see the emptiness in her words, the hollow look in her eyes. He knew grief when he saw it, and this girl in front of him was hurting inside. Deep, deep inside.

He knew because he had also hid his grief in the disappearance of his mother.

But Adrien wasn't sure what to make of Bridgette. The girl stuck close to Marinette, yet even with her cousin, there was an odd coldness in their interactions.

She hadn't said a single word in class yet, at least what classes he shared with her and Marinette. But the girl was a bit _odd_.

It was probably nothing, but it bothered him how Bridgette tried to be like Marinette. She started wearing similar clothes, watching her cousin for cues, and even began wearing her hair parted in two. At least she wore it in two braids.

It was probably nothing. But it definitely bothered him.

And too often for his comfort, he found those brown eyes focused on him.

He tried to shrug it off. He was sure Bridgette was a lovely girl once you got to knew her. Maybe she was just shy. But something about her….

 _You're overreacting_ , a voice that sounded a lot like Plagg would remind him whenever his thoughts strayed in that direction. _You don't even know the girl_.

Instead, he tried to focus on people he did know.

Adrien could tell that Nino was concerned for Marinette, despite not being a close friend of hers.

Friday morning, as literature ended, Adrien caught Juleka's elbow. "Hey, do you wanna get lunch with Nino and me today," he lowered his voice, "Dude's really worried about Marinette, hopefully you can reassure him?"

"Sure. Is it okay if Leo comes? I promised him lunch today."

"Of course."

They met up with Juleka and Leo at the front of the school as the lunch hour began, and they made their way to a small café around the corner.

Juleka brushed some hair behind her ear as the two boys across from her at the café table looked at her expectantly. "Well, what do you want to know?"

Nino shrugged awkwardly. "Man, I don't know. I just kinda want to know what happened and all that without being an insensitive little shit. And I don't think we're close enough to Marinette or Alya to really ask. But you're friends with her, and well, we're friends with you."

Adrien nodded. "We'd like to help, you know."

Juleka smiled her small, careful smile. "Marinette's doing okay, I think. I mean, she's been throwing herself into her designs more than ever, but she's a strong one. When her Papa's grandpa died, it was the same. She threw herself into her designs, but she's amazingly selfless. She always seemed more concerned about how others were feeling."

Nino nodded. "I remember that. Marinette did that even in preschool." Nino sighed, "I wish we stayed friends."

"I'm sure she would love it if you reached out to her," Juleka commented, "she's got a big heart and lots of love."

Leo laughed. "I been here half a year, I already know Marinette is Fairy Princess. She has big heart to give lots of gifts." Juleka and Nino nodded at Leo's broken French. Marinette had enough room in her heart even for those she was only acquainted with.

But Adrien frowned a bit. He had always _seen_ Marinette's amazing-ness and the way she reached out to others, but she had always seemed _awkward_ around him, even when they worked on math together. He could never figure out why.

Leo tapped his chin. "So Marinette's cousin, why is she at our school now?"

"Bridgette's mom died when she was younger, so it's always been just her and her dad, who is Marinette's mom's brother. She lived on the other side of Paris, but now that her dad's gone, Marinette's mom has custody over her. Since the school year just started, they didn't think it would be too awful for her to start now."

Nino snapped his fingers. "Wait, I think I remember her at some of Marinette's parties when we were younger. She didn't talk much then."

Juleka shrugged. "She doesn't talk much now. Marinette says she's still grieving and that she won't let anyone in."

Adrien sighed. "Everyone goes through grief differently. When Chloe's mom died, Chloe went on a shopping spree, blew close to three thousand dollars, then locked herself in her room for a week."

He didn't tell the other three how his form of grieving had looked surprisingly similar to Bridgette's.

Their orders came, and Nino picked up his sandwich as he said, "I hope Marinette isn't bottling it in. She's always been too concerned about others for her own good."

"That's what Alya's been trying to tell her, but the girl's too stubborn," Juleka poked at her salad. "She insists that she's fine. Al said that besides crying over a call the night of, Marinette's been avoiding the topic."

"I miss her. She is," Leo frowned as he searched for the right tense, "she was, so bubbly and colorful. She reminded me of _mi ciudad natal de Barcelona_." He slipped into his native tongue without noticing, but the others understood.

Juleka patted his arm. "She'll bounce back. Mari's strong."

* * *

Marinette was fine.

Really.

Actually, how fine she was almost making her not fine.

But she knew that Uncle Alex would never have wanted her to grieve too much. Her uncle had been diagnosed with lung cancer a year ago, and in a rather late stage.

They had had a year to come to terms with it.

So yeah, Marinette was devastated. But she was fine.

Uncle had told her that she had to take care of Bridgette, who was three months younger than her. Bridgette wasn't talking much and the two had never been especially close to begin with.

Marinette wasn't sure how she was supposed to 'help' Bridgette when the girl didn't want help, but she didn't want to give up on her uncle's last request.

And she felt as if everyone was just waiting, waiting for her to break down and cry. But she had cried plenty the first four nights. She didn't want to think about it anymore.

She wished people would stop asking her if she was okay.

Cause really, she was fine.

She was fine.

She didn't want to think about it anymore.

Fine.


	2. The Reveal No One Wanted

**...and it's been 2 months...whoops**

 **Summary: Marinette's reaching her breaking point and things couldn't possibly get any worse–until they do.**

* * *

 _12:35_

Peeking her head over the edge of the loft, Marinette checked one more time to make sure that her cousin was fast asleep under her on the chaise.

She bit her lip nervously then sat back down on her bed. She needed to be certain.

 _12:45_

It had gotten infinitely harder to sneak away as Ladybug now that Bridgette was staying in the same room as her.

The first week, she had told Chat that a complication had arisen, and that she would be patrolling much later in the night. She had been sad that they wouldn't get to hang out at patrols together anymore, but she couldn't ask him to stay so late just because it was hard for her to get out the house.

So she had been incredibly surprised when at her first midnight patrol, Chat had shown up minutes later, looking a bit tired, but nonetheless determined to stay by her side.

A small grin made its way onto her face as she fidgeted with the edge of her hand-embroidered quilt. That was why he was one of her best friends. He was always there for her, even when he didn't know the whole story.

The warm feeling soon faded as the soft snores of her cousin drew her attention back to the task at hand. Her fidgeting turned aggressive as she twisted the edge of the quilt roughly.

Despite always striving to be kind to everyone, she couldn't help but feel bitter towards the girl who had been dropped into her life.

Marinette liked to think that she wasn't an inherently jealous person. She might've been hasty in when she had first met Lila, but she hoped that she wasn't like that all the time.

But then again, she had always been an only child. Having to share _everything_ with someone else was new and uncomfortable to her.

She had been used to the way her parents sometimes coddled her, but seeing that with someone else? It was… strange. Not to mention the way those at her school seemed to group her and Bridgette together. She didn't like it.

Huffing silently with frustration, she mentally berated herself for feeling that way. She couldn't even begin to explain how she felt, but taking it out on Bridgette wasn't fair.

That didn't stop her from sneering at her sleeping cousin below her out of spite. At the flare of aggression she felt, she reached up and tugged at the loose pigtail on her right side.

 _12:50_

A couple more beats of quiet breathing passed before she ventured to peek over the loft again. Bridgette was in the same position as before, curled up under the fluffy pink blanket. It was time.

"Tikki?"

The clasp of her purse popped open and the kwami flew out, silently yawning. "Ready?"

Marinette nodded. Lately, Tikki had had no choice but to stay hidden in Marinette's bag at all times, lest Bridgette walk in on something she shouldn't have seen.

But really, the two had no choice. Finding another Ladybug would be time consuming, not that Marinette was willing to give Tikki up. And there was nothing they could do about Bridgette. The girl had just lost her father after all.

With a final look at Bridgette, Marinette quietly pushed open her trapdoor and climbed out onto the balcony. The night was cool and soothing and she simply stood for a minute to relax. She had felt so tense lately. Not only was their last year of school filled with countless assignments and tests, but also she could feel everyone's stares on her backs. Their whispers followed her and her cousin as they traveled through the hall.

A sudden burst of anger rushed through her and her hands clenched. Why couldn't they just leave her alone! She was sick of being treated like a fragile little doll. She was sick of the way everyone was afraid of offending her and Bridgette. She wanted everything to be back to normal.

Back when her Uncle was still alive.

Glaring into the night, she murmured, "Tikki, spots on!" She ignored the way her kwami frowned as she disappeared into the glowing red stone.

Pink light flashed, and a minute later, Ladybug was aggressively swinging through the city. She was normally cautious while traveling via yoyo, but tonight, she flung herself recklessly into the air, waiting until the last second of free falling before blindly chucking her yoyo out.

 _She was fine_.

She jumped off the roof of a building and landed on a moving car. A split second later she was back into the air.

 _She was fucking fine_.

With a frustrated yell, she threw her yoyo at the side of a museum, but it just bounced harmlessly off.

 _Fine._

Somehow, she made her way to the top of her school. Heavily breathing, she tugged at her pigtails in frustration.

Ladybug. Marinette. Whoever she was, she was fine. But she was also angry. And she didn't know _what her problem was_.

For a quick second, she wished that she had Chat's power of destruction. Her anger and frustration was boiling over, and her lack of understanding of _why_ she was feeling all of it made it worse. But she didn't have Cataclysm, and it would've been incredibly irresponsible of her to use it emotionally anyway.

At the moment, she didn't feel like giving a crap about responsibility.

Without any way to physically destroy the white stone of the school's roof, she resorted to stomping her feet. Tears streamed down her face, but she angrily wiped them away. She didn't get it.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was supposed to be fine.

Ladybug had nothing to be upset about.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was supposed to be the confident, cheerful class president.

Ladybug shouldn't be letting her emotions get the best of her.

"I'm fine!" A sudden impulse overtook her and she yelled into the night.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, and I'm fine! …I'm, I'm fine…" Her angry remarks slowly devolved into more sobs.

A soft thud behind her made her whip around and she yelped in pain when her shoulder connected with the chimney next to her. Already frustrated past the point of reason, she let out another irate yell.

Black, leather-covered hands moved to steady her. "My Lady?"

Ladybug was terribly aware of how much of a mess she looked. She was still crying, eyes probably red and swollen, and her normally neat tails were windswept and uneven.

But, she couldn't find it in her to actually care. Instead, she flung herself into her partner's arms and hugged him tightly.

He didn't say anything, though he did stiffen a bit. Then, he wrapped one arm around her while the other reached up to brush through her tangled hair. Ladybug simply sobbed into his shoulder.

"It's okay Bugaboo, it's okay," he soothed, "I'm here for you, and if you need it, I'm willing to listen."

She sniffled some more, before sinking down onto her knees and curling into a ball. Chat lowered himself down next to her. Her body shivered and shaked.

The night air no longer seemed so soothing. Instead, the coldness bit at her raw cheeks, etching a burning sensation into her face.

At last she spoke up. "I don't even know why I'm crying." Ladybug tried to smile at Chat, but it came out as more of a grimace.

"Sometimes, we don't need a reason to be upset. We just need to let it all out." Chat wrapped his arms around her once more, setting his chin on top of her head as they stared out to the city.

She laughed dryly, throat still hoarse from her previous yelling. "When did you get so wise, kitty cat?"

"I've always been wise, oh young spotted-one." He straightened up importantly, putting on airs. Then he dropped his act, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eyes.

"Seriously though, are you okay? You've been a bit off these past few weeks."

She hesitated for a second. "Just some personal stuff. It's been a bit rough." Reaching up to wipe away the last of her traitorous tears, she grimaced at the harsh combination of cold air and raw skin.

"Okay...but I'm here for you Bug. You know that right?"

A genuine smile made its way onto her face. It was a relief knowing that. "Of course."

They didn't patrol that night. Two superheroes leaned against one another as they watched the sun rise from the top of the school.

* * *

"Okay, okay. So you're telling me that the Literature test is today?" Alya pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. "This is a joke. Please tell me this is a joke."

Marinette laughed and handed her friend a bag of warm pastries. "We have it in the afternoon. Come over during lunch and we can study for it."

Alya accepted the proffered bag and took another deep breath. "Okay. Ugh, I just have so much to do! I feel like I'm writing something all the time. One minute I'm doing an essay, then I'm working on another and then I'm working on the school newspaper, and I still have a bunch of internship applications I have to get through by the end of the month!" She ripped off a section of a chocolate croissant and shoved it into her mouth.

"Breathe. It's gonna be okay! Super Mari is here to save the day!" Marinette winked, and Alya burst out laughing, buttery flakes flying out.

A hand popped in between the giggling duo, daintily holding a napkin out for Alya. Alya took it and wiped her mouth. "Thanks Bridgette." She gave the silent girl a placating smile and was rewarded with a tight smile.

Marinette frowned slightly at her cousin's interruption, something that Alya noticed with concern. It seemed like as time went by, Marinette's patience with the girl had decreased exponentially.

When Bridgette had first moved in with Mari, the girl had followed the two everywhere. Marinette had been incredibly kind and understanding, if a bit reserved herself. Both she and Alya had done their best to get Bridgette settled in as gently as possible, yet even Alya had seen that Bridgette's constant presence had slowly started grating Marinette's nerves. The journalist wasn't even sure if her best friend had noticed the way Bridgette had begun copying Marinette in some areas.

Granted, the girl had now grown out of her shell tremendously and was no longer attached to Marinette's hip. She still spend a large amount of time with them though.

Bridgette herself seemed okay. A bit sharp and blunt, if Alya was honest, but nothing incredibly problematic. And truthfully, the girl was _really_ trying.

Alya was more disappointed in her friend for the way she was behaving. Marinette had always been a kind person, yet when someone close to her needed it most, the girl's patience had disappeared.

Alya shook off her musings and began gathering her books from her open locker. Now wasn't the time to confront her friend. But would there ever be a good time?

Suddenly, her locker door swung around and nearly hit her nose. Alya yelped and turned towards Marinette, who had jumped around behind the metal door. "What the hell Mari?!"

Marinette's eyes were wide with panic. She whispered, "Adrien!" and shrunk in on herself even more.

 _Of course_. _What else would it be?_ Alya followed her friend's eyes to the blond model several yards down the hall, who was having an animated discussion with Nino, a guy in Alya's geometry and computer science classes. Alya rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

Alya snorted and even Bridgette cracked an amused smile. "Jesus Mari. It's literally been years! You've gotta get your act together around him."

"He's coming!" Marinette ignored her and attempted to both hide in the locker and catch Adrien's attention at the same time.

"You're a mess," there was a teasing smile in Bridgette's voice, but Marinette frowned, interpreting her words in the wrong way.

"No I'm not! I'd like to see you not melt into a complete mess in front of such a perfect person!" The pigtailed girl snapped. Without thinking she reached up and aggressively tugged at her pigtail.

Shrugging, Bridgette walked towards Adrien with an air of casual indifference. "Hey Agreste!"

Adrien stopped talking and stared at her with surprise. She had never initiated any sort of conversation with him before. Nino's mouth quirked a bit with annoyance at her interruption.

"Hi...Bridgette."

He cautiously turned away from Nino in order to face her fully. While she was definitely a lot more outspoken than the first few weeks of her arrival, he still didn't know how to fully interact with her.

Bridgette smiled.

Alya and Marinette looked on from the distance as Bridgette began to chat with Adrien, but they were too far away to hear. Marinette seethed.

"Hey, hey," Alya placed a hand on Marinette's shoulder, "She's just doing what you basically challenged her to do."

"Yes, but she shouldn't be doing a good job of it! She should be floundering and blushing and tripping up like me!"

"Hun, most people have an okay time at attempting to talk to the oh-so-scary sunshine boy. I mean, are we going over this again Mari? Why do you even like him in the first place?"

Marinette dropped her eyes to the floor. They'd had this conversation before. "Because he's the kindest guy I've literally ever encountered."

Alya nodded. "And while I don't have a crippling crush on him because of that, I will agree with that awfully true statement. So is he going to bite you?"

"No," came the mumbled and sheepish reply.

"What's the worst that could possibly happen if you confessed?" Alya prodded her more.

"He-He could reject me!"

"And…"

Marinette sighed. Over the past three years of her rather distracting and large crush on a certain model, Alya had tried to get her to confess to Adrien countless times. "...He would probably be sweet about it too, the asshole."

"So you need to do it!"

"But–I can't! I mean, does he even know who I am? Does–"

Alya interrupted, "Of course he does. You're the freaking class president. People do tend to pay attention." Sarcasm dripped off her words.

"Yeah," Marinette stopped her torrent of words with a groan, "I know you have a point; you always do. And we've had this conversation enough to times for you to know that I totally agree with you! I-I just can't do it."

"It seems like you never can. We graduate this year Mari! You've got to do it one day!"

Marinette squeaked. "Or maybe I could, you know, just never confess, and just love him safely from afar where it doesn't hurt anyone okay? Okay. Yup!" And with that, the girl turned, bumping her shoulder harshly into the wall, and scurried away.

Alya sighed before closing her locker and following her friend.

* * *

Bridgette sat down next to Alya, who was rapidly texting on her phone.

"You're looking for Marinette too, huh?"

Alya jumped, and her fingers twitched comically in the air. "Oh my god, Bridgette you scared me! Uh, yeah, Marinette said that I could go over to the bakery with her to study, but–yeah, I didn't see her after class and she's not responding to my texts."

Alya's face was pulled into a concerned and slightly hurt expression.

Bridgette looked up and twitched her lips to the side. "She's been avoiding me. I think she's pissed at me for talking to Adrien. I mean I know for sure that she's pissed at me, because she always has these little tells whenever I aggravate her even though she thinks that I don't know." Bridgette frowned. "Anyway, it's not like she has claim over Adrien. Also it's not my fault that she can't talk to him when literally everyone else can!"

Alya looked down at her phone again. "I mean, you have to understand that this girl's literally been pining after this boy for three years at this point."

Bridgette frowned. "That doesn't mean that he's hers."

Alya put her phone down and stared at the pouting girl next to her. Did Bridgette...

She shook her head and looked down at the string of unanswered text messages. "Where could that girl be?"

They were interrupted by a large crash and the rising volume of screams.

Large blocks of legos had started raining from the sky. The two barely caught a glimpse of a rainbow akuma zoom by before a whizzing sound could be heard.

Ladybug dropped down next to the two a second later. She turned towards Alya, who had excitedly opened the camera app to record. "You need to find cover right now." Another block plummeted towards the ground, crashing into the bench seven feet away from them. Splinters of wood flew towards them, but Ladybug whipped out her yoyo and rapidly swung it around to deflect the flying shards. "Go!" Her eyes flicked briefly towards Bridgette before nodding at Alya.

Alya made to go, but the girl next to her simply raised her eyebrow.

"Why should we listen to you?" Ladybug reeled back in shock. No one had ever treated her like that before. She always forgot that Bridgette had witnessed few akuma attacks since her arrival in Paris and had never directly interacted with Ladybug before.

"Come on, let's just go." Alya tried tugging Bridgette away. The Asian girl refused to move.

Ladybug frowned, and a spotted hand reached up and yanked at her pigtail roughly. "Look, I don't have time to explain anything to you. It's my duty to help the citizens of Paris, and I don't have to explain any more than that. There are literally huge bricks dropping from the sky right now."

With that, she lassoed a large piece of a red block, using it to both propel herself upwards and to redirect its downwards path. Ladybug was gone within the second.

Bridgette stood there, staring at the space that had previously been occupied by the spotted heroine.

Alya tugged harder at Bridgette's hand. Finally moving, the Asian girl followed Alya indoors towards the school building. Her perplexed expression never left.

* * *

Ladybug swung onto her rooftop, nearly collapsing with exhaustion.

The akuma had taken nearly three hours to defeat, seeing as it never stayed in one place. She had missed lunch and all of her afternoon classes, without even having time to drop Alya an excuse for ditching her for lunch.

Not to mention, now she had to make up that literature test. Groaning, she twisted and cracked her back, a large yawn escaping her mouth.

Having a double life as a teenager was not easy.

With a look around, she unhatched her trapdoor and extended her legs to drop down onto her bed.

Or at least, she was supposed to drop down onto her bed. Instead of the soft comforter she had been expecting, her foot hit something harder. Like a bony kind of hard.

She ducked her head under the hatch, and nearly yelped when she saw her foot had hit someone's knees.

That someone being an angry cousin who was currently glaring up at her with arms crossed.

 _Wait–She hadn't transformed back!–_

"Marinette. We need to talk."

* * *

 **Any constructive criticism is appreciated! Just a BTW, I tend to update on AO3 earlier because I do think its a cleaner interface. If you wanna suscribe there, I go by frostypineapple on AO3 and on tumblr!**

 **Thanks for reading!**


End file.
